


The Bridge

by laceandsteelgirl



Series: Captain Australia [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1930s, And this was the result, Gen, Great Depression, I'm so sorry, Pre-Slash, basically i listened to a podcast about the harbour bridge, op is horny on main for the sydney harbour bridge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-19 15:35:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16537352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laceandsteelgirl/pseuds/laceandsteelgirl
Summary: The Sydney Harbour Bridge was an amazing feat of engineering, but more than that, it provided jobs for hundreds of Australians. Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, two young Australian boys, have their lives changed by this bridge.Basically an Australian AU of Steve and Bucky's life pre-The First Avenger. Will be part of a series of the entire Captain America movie canon reimagined in an Australian setting.





	The Bridge

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by one of ABC's Conversations about Lennie Gwyther and his ride to see the opening of the Harbour Bridge. 
> 
> This is Steve and Bucky's childhood, so there's no real relationship or romance yet, although that will probably develop throughout the rest of the series. Being Australian, I know quite a bit about Australian history, but not having lived through this particular period, I am not familiar with every aspect of 1930s Australian life. You'll have to forgive any mistakes I make.
> 
> This is also pretty much a declaration of my love for a bridge.

1788 was a hell of a year. It was the year that the Great New Orleans Fire broke out, killing 25% of the population and destroying hundreds of buildings in the town. It was the year Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his final symphony, the Symphony No. 41 in C Major. It was the year King George III went insane, and the year eleven American states ratified the Constitution.

 

But before all of that happened, at the very beginning of the year, another significant event occurred. On the 26th of January, Captain Arthur Phillip and the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove to establish a British prison colony.

 

From there, Sydney Cove was to develop into the city of Sydney, a vast, sprawling mass across both sides of the harbour. And therein lay the problem. Sydney harbour. A great expanse of water that fed into the Parramatta River, effectively splitting the entire city in half. The only way to cross the harbour, without travelling the extra distance to Parramatta to cross the river there, and then travelling back to Sydney, was via ferry. It was said that at one point, two ferries would leave every five minutes from either side to make the crossing and move the citizens of Sydney from one side to the other.

 

In 1815, a man named Francis Greenway proposed to the Governor of New South Wales, Lachlan Macquarie, that a bridge be constructed, spanning the harbour and connecting the north and the south of Sydney. But such an idea was arguably insane! A bridge of that scale would be dangerous to build, and even more dangerous to use, surely? And so it was that, when a boy named James Buchanan Barnes was born in the outer suburbs of Sydney in 1917, the two halves of Sydney were still separated by the no man’s land that was Sydney harbour.

 

\--------------------

 

James Buchanan Barnes was the son of an immigrant and an Australian factory worker. His Polish mother named him after the American president she had read about when she was learning English. His father, George, wasn’t overly concerned about the unpatriotic nature of the name – after all, James was a good, strong name, and no one ever need know the boy was named after an _American_.

 

A year later, in a small apartment a few blocks away from the Barnes house, another boy was born. He was also the son of an immigrant and an Australian, but his mother was Irish and his father a captain in the army. This boy’s name was Steven Grant Rogers.

 

\--------------------

 

James and Steve met for the first time when James was 9 and Steve 8. Prior to that, James (or Bucky, as his little sister Becca had dubbed him – a mispronunciation of his middle name) had been totally occupied with cricket and climbing trees. He rarely came home without some fresh bruise or scrape.

 

The same went for Steve, except his bruises were acquired in a very different situation. Steve, with his father killed in the army, and his mother working every job she could manage just to raise him, was always getting in fights. The neighbourhood boys were constantly goading Steve about his poverty, his illnesses, his dead father, his Irish mother, and the fact that he had been born out of wedlock.

 

Two very different upbringings. Bucky a carefree, wild child, obsessed with Don Bradman and teasing his baby sister Becca; Steve a lonely, angry boy without a father, whose main pastime seemed to be fighting for the honour of those he loved.

 

It was during one of these fights that the boys finally met. Steve was cornered in an alley, ducking the punches of Tommy Jones, whose father ran the general store. Bucky had just been passing by, but Tommy’s taunts caught his ear. A small, blond boy was being punched and kicked, shrinking away from Tommy’s fists.

 

“C’mon ya weakling! Even my sister punches better’n you, but then, she ain’t a bastard like you, ya sissy! And she ain’t got a whore mother like yours, neither!”

 

“Don’t talk ‘bout my mum that way”, the kid spat, fending off Tommy’s blows weakly. Bucky watched, eyes wide at the bravery of this skinny blond kid standing up to Tommy, two years older and a good deal stronger than him.

 

“Oi, Tommy, the hell’re you doin? Git away from the kid, ya ass!” Bucky threw caution to the wind and jumped headlong into the fight, punching Tommy in the nose.

 

“This little rat deserves it, he’s a goddamn povvo bastard, and you’re no better, you and your German mother”, Tommy yelled back.

 

That was the last straw for Bucky. “Git behind me, y’idiot,” he told the kid, and then began to lay into Tommy. “My mother’s not German, she’s Polish, and you’re just some jumped-up country folk swanning round like you’re better’n us. Well, you’re not! You’re just some ugly bully.”

 

Anger gave Bucky the upper hand, and he pummelled Tommy mercilessly until Tommy, holding up his hands, ran away without looking back. Bucky turned to find the kid looking up at him from the bluest eyes he’d ever seen.

 

“What’d you do that for?” the kid demanded. “I could’ve taken him, I had ‘im on the ropes!”

 

“Sure thing, mate. An’ I could beat out Don Bradman as a cricketer. Anyway, he insulted my mum too.”

 

“I guess,” the kid replied grudgingly. “I’m Steve,” and he held out his grubby hand.

 

“James. But you can call me Bucky.” And they were firm friends.

 

\--------------------

 

Growing up during the Great Depression was never going to be an easy task, but for two boys, so full of heart and dreams, it was terrible. Sydney was fringed on all sides by shanty towns, and it was in one of these that Steve and Bucky lived and played. Their families barely had the money to buy food, and yet the boys dreamed grand visions of a far-off future. Bucky dreamed of becoming a star cricketer like Bradman, and still spent hours playing cricket in the streets, practicing batting and bowling, running as fast as he could. Steve dreamed of moving away to the country, Broken Hill or someplace similar, where the air was cleaner and wouldn’t irritate his asthma.

 

Yet these dreams were never to be. Bucky dropped out of school at twelve to get a job in the same factory as his father, and Steve had already been doing as many paper runs as he could manage with his weak lungs. Their families needed all the money they could get, but even with the boys working, there was still not enough. Steve, in particular, was struggling to afford medicine, and his mother, a nurse, would sometimes sneak home cough syrup for him.

 

It seemed to be an inevitable fact of life that the boys would need to find better-paid jobs or else starve.

 

\--------------------

 

In 1926, around the same time that Bucky and Steve were meeting for the first time, the beginnings of a solution to Sydney’s division began to arise. Plans had been made and approved for the construction of a bridge across the harbour – a single-span arch high across the water. Many insisted it couldn’t be done, but John Bradfield, the manager of the project, insisted it could. One might think it counterintuitive to spend so much money on a bridge when there were perfectly functional ferries able to transport Sydneysiders over the harbour, especially during the Great Depression. But the construction of this bridge, this glorious monument that still stands today, is a testament to the perseverance of the Australians. Even though the economic situation was dire, the bridge was built, providing thousands of jobs to the construction workers.

 

The bridge didn’t just represent an amazing feat of engineering – no, for the men who worked on that bridge, it was a lifeline for them and for their families. In particular, it was a lifeline for Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers.

 

\--------------------

 

It was a stiflingly hot summer’s evening in 1929, and Steve was leaning out the window in the hopes of catching a breeze when Bucky came whistling down the street. His cap lay at a jaunty angle on his head, and a newspaper was tucked under his arm. He caught sight of Steve and a huge grin lit his face.

 

“Stevie! How’s it goin’, mate?” Bucky yelled up. Steve smiled and leaned further out the window.

 

“Not bad, Buck. ‘Cept for the fact I’m more cooked than a Christmas chook!” Steve could feel his shirt sticking to his bony back, and his lungs were doing worse than usual in the humidity. He could hear Bucky’s footfalls leaping their way up the stairs, a moment before Bucky burst in through the door.

 

“Evening, Sarah!” he cheerfully greeted Steve’s mum, as he passed through to the living room like a whirlwind.

 

“You’ll never guess what, Steve!” Steve looked at Bucky hard. His face was shining, as were his boots, and his hair was brushed flat for once in his life. He was wearing his Sunday best, which could only mean one thing.

 

“You’ve gone and got a better job?” Steve guessed. Bucky smiled even wider, practically jumping out of his skin in excitement. Although the Depression had forced him to grow up faster than he was willing, there were times when you remembered he was only a twelve-year-old boy.

 

“Yeah, that’s right! I’m gonna be a riveter on that new bridge they’re building!”

 

“They let kids like you do that?” Steve was pleased for Bucky – the bridge would pay better than the factory – but he was also apprehensive. It was pretty high up, and most folks reckoned you’d die for sure if you fell off.

 

“Sure, why not? I know how to use a rivet gun, I use ‘em all the time at the factory.” The factory where Bucky worked made railway tracks.

 

“Yeah, but ain’t it gonna be dangerous?" Bucky’s smile began to slip.

 

“I thought you’d be happy for me, Steve. I gone and got a good job, it’s gonna pay heaps better than the factory.”

 

“I am happy, Buck. I am. But I don’t want you to fall and die. You know that there’s already been nine guys dead last year.”

 

Steve could feel his heart racing. Bucky was too important to him, he wasn’t allowed to die! It was meant to be Steve who went first, from his heart or his lungs, or any of the other myriad of medical issues he faced. But he supposed he was just going to have to live with that possibility in his future. He couldn’t be so selfish as to complain, not when Bucky had a good job that was going to pay well.

 

\--------------------

 

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was finished three years later. It had been constructed from the edges of the arch inwards, and there was great celebration when the halves met, but it was greater still when the suspended deck, with space for the motorcars, trams, and trains was finally complete. The opening of the bridge was scheduled for the 19th of March, 1932.

 

\--------------------

 

“Hurry up, Buck! We’re gonna be late if you don’t get a shift on!”

 

“Hold your damn horses, Stevie. The bridge ain’t going anywhere. Not after all the work we put in getting it there in the first place.”

 

Steve rolled his eyes. “Yeah, the bridge mightn’t move, but the opening ceremony will.”

 

“Fine, fine. We can go now.”

 

Steve was excited for the opening of the bridge. Five whole years in total, and three of them where Bucky was working on it. At long last it was done! They ran through the streets of Wynyard and Steve prayed that his lungs would hold up. Now was not the time for an asthma attack. They squeezed their way through the crowds, trying to find a spot where they could see the ribbon stretched across the bridge.

 

Steve spotted a man in a suit, standing in front of the ribbon. The reporters were yelling questions to him, cameras flashing and pens hurriedly scribbling.

 

“That’s Lang,” he hissed to Bucky. Jack Lang was the premier of New South Wales, and Steve had admired him for years, not least because his left-wing policies had been working hard to change the living conditions of people like him and his mum.

 

As Lang prepared to cut the ribbon with a massive pair of scissors, a commotion broke out in the crowd. Steve craned his neck to see what had caused it. From what he could see, a man on a horse had ridden forward and slashed the ribbon before Lang could.

 

“I declare this bridge open in the name of His Majesty King George!” the man shouted. There were gasps and uncertain applause from the crowd, as if they weren’t sure how to react. The police swarmed the man and arrested him, as the ribbon was hastily tied back together.

 

As Lang cut the ribbon and the crowd began to cheer, Steve turned to Bucky with his eyes glowing. He threw his arms around Bucky’s neck and they celebrated with the crowd.

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of this particular work was written in what I call "omnisicent narrator style". I do not intend to write the rest the series in this style, so if that put you off, then I hope you will still enjoy the rest of the works.
> 
> Jack Lang really was the premier of NSW, and he was very left-wing. I like to imagine that Steve would've been a big supporter of Lang, because of Lang's support of the everyday working man.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and comment down below to let me know what you thought! I know it's weird to write a Captain America fic where Captain America is not American, but I hope you liked it anyway!


End file.
